In November, the town of Chapel Hill, North Carolina, unveiled a “Good Trouble” banner honoring the late congressman John Lewis. It depicted a graduate wearing a keffiyeh. The banner came down within a day, after Jewish residents objected. The sharper question is why no one thought to ask them first.

The keffiyeh is now everywhere, on campuses, at protests, and in media and politics, packaged as neutral, even celebratory. For many Jews, it is anything but.